Tectonics articles within Nature Communications

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  • Article
    | Open Access

    The source of the Transantarctic Mountains’ high elevation has remained unclear. Here, the authors present data from a 550 km long magnetotelluric geophysical transect showing that uplift is likely to be mechanical via cantilevered flexure along a master boundary fault and not upper mantle or lower crustal thermal mechanisms.

    • Phil Wannamaker
    • , Graham Hill
    •  & Daniel Feucht

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The recycling of continental lithosphere and rapid plateau uplift is believed to be the result of lithospheric drips, but natural examples are missing. Here, the authors use geodynamic models to suggest that the folding and thickening of the Central Anatolian arc caused lithospheric dripping of the arc root.

    • Oğuz H. Göğüş
    • , Russell N. Pysklywec
    •  & Erkan Gün

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Aftershocks are earthquakes triggered in the near field by the dynamic rupture of larger earthquake events. Here, the authors show along the San Andreas fault system that the early aftershock decay rate can be used to infer the variations of stress with depth.

    • Peter Shebalin
    •  & Clément Narteau

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Continental rifting and break up processes are poorly constrained in the early stages. Here, the authors using high-resolution numerical simulations to show how early formed faults in continental extension can then control subsequent structure evolution of rifts.

    • John B. Naliboff
    • , Susanne J. H. Buiter
    •  & Joya Tetreault

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Tibetan plateau deformation is variable, but what controls those variations is still poorly understood. Here, the authors use 3D numerical models to show that the variations observed in lithosphere deformation are controlled by heterogeneities in the strength of the Asian continental crust.

    • Lin Chen
    • , Fabio A. Capitanio
    •  & Taras V. Gerya

  • Article
    | Open Access

    During subduction water is transported into the mantle, but constraining its release remains challenging. Here, using seismic tomography of the Lesser Antilles arc, the authors track the multistage dehydration of the slab and its lateral variations associated with heterogeneous slab composition.

    • Michele Paulatto
    • , Mireille Laigle
    •  & Heidrun Kopp

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Water plays a key role in many geological processes, including weakening crystals in the crust and mantle. Here, using amphibole distribution and olivine dislocation slip-systems, the authors show that ductile flow also has a dynamic control on water-rich fluid circulation in mantle shear zones.

    • Jacques Précigout
    • , Cécile Prigent
    •  & Anthony Pochon

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The Hawaiian-Emperor Chain has a 60° bend that has been interpreted as the result of Pacific plate motion at 47 Ma or drift of the Hawaiian hotspot. Here, the authors show that hotspot drift cannot be the dominant mechanism for bend formation, but involves a change in the direction of Pacific plate motion at ∼47 Ma.

    • Trond H. Torsvik
    • , Pavel V. Doubrovine
    •  & Mathew Domeier

  • Article
    | Open Access

    How flat slabs at subduction zones are created remains unclear. Here, the authors show that the Nazca slab has retreated at ∼2 cm per year since 50 Ma but no rollback has occurred in the last ∼12 Myr in the flat slab, implying that an overpressured sub-slab mantle can impede rollback and maintain a flat slab.

    • Gerben Schepers
    • , Douwe J. J. van Hinsbergen
    •  & Nadine McQuarrie

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Intermediate-depth earthquakes (30-300 km) occur in subducting oceanic slabs, but their generation mechanism remains enigmatic. Here, the authors show through high-pressure and dehydration experiments of antigorite that dehydration-driven stress transfer triggers intermediate-depth earthquakes.

    • Thomas P. Ferrand
    • , Nadège Hilairet
    •  & Alexandre Schubnel

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Intraplate earthquakes occur far from tectonic plate boundaries and so it is vital to understand how and where they may happen. Here, Levandowskiet al. create a 3D density map of the North America Great Plains showing that gravitational forces play a controlling role in intraplate earthquake locations.

    • Will Levandowski
    • , Mark Zellman
    •  & Rich Briggs

  • Article
    | Open Access

    There is growing evidence for the presence of continental fragments within the young oceanic basins, but this is still based on limited geological data. Here, the authors use zircon isotope geochronology to demonstrate the presence of Archaean continental crust beneath the young hotspot volcanoes of Mauritius.

    • Lewis D. Ashwal
    • , Michael Wiedenbeck
    •  & Trond H. Torsvik

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Microstructural features of deformed rocks are used to reveal deformation stresses and temperatures. Here, the authors conduct experiments showing that misleading microstructures form during fluid-mediated mineral reactions under static conditions, and propose new criteria for microstructure identification.

    • Liene Spruzeniece
    • , Sandra Piazolo
    •  & Helen E. Maynard-Casely

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The Perm anomaly is found in the lower mantle beneath Eurasia, but how this structure formed has remained unclear. Here, the authors show that the anomaly has been mobile since it formed in isolation within a closed subduction network and propose that the anomaly is linked to the Emeishan volcanics.

    • N. Flament
    • , S. Williams
    •  & D. J. Bower

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Understanding when brittle rock faulting took place can help unravel the history of deformation in the Earth’s crust. The authors here develop a new approach to date faults using a combination of K-Ar isotopic dating of illite and structural analysis to provide high resolution dates of the faults.

    • G. Viola
    • , T. Scheiber
    •  & J. Knies

  • Article
    | Open Access

    For half a century, the cause for recent uplift of the European Alps has been debated. Here, the authors show that ∼90% of the geodetically measured rock uplift in the Alps can be explained by the Earth’s viscoelastic response to ice melting after the Last Glacial Maximum.

    • Jürgen Mey
    • , Dirk Scherler
    •  & Manfred R. Strecker

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Our understanding of melt production during early continental breakup remains poorly constrained. Using the Afar triple junction as an example, Gallacher et al. generate a 3D velocity model suggesting that melt production is highest during early continental breakup due to localised thinning of the crust.

    • Ryan J. Gallacher
    • , Derek Keir
    •  & Abdulhakim Ahmed

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Plate subduction initiation requires weak boundaries between tectonic plates, but how weaknesses develop is unclear. Here, using high-pressure friction experiments on peridotite gouge material, the authors show that hydration reactions contribute to the weak mantle shear zones leading to subduction initiation.

    • Ken-ichi Hirauchi
    • , Kumi Fukushima
    •  & Atsushi Okamoto

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The causes of intraplate deformation remain poorly constrained. Heron et al. use numerical models to show that ancient plate tectonic processes produce mantle lithosphere structures that may be reactivated to generate intraplate deformation.

    • Philip J. Heron
    • , Russell N. Pysklywec
    •  & Randell Stephenson

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Over a geological timescale, plate tectonics are thought to promote biodiversity, but this link remained descriptive. Here, Leprieur et al. model dynamically how plate tectonics shaped species diversification and movement of hotspots on tropical reefs over the past 140 million years.

    • Fabien Leprieur
    • , Patrice Descombes
    •  & Loïc Pellissier

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Slow earthquakes, where fault slip is slow, can be large and may help trigger regular earthquakes, but the mechanics of slow slip are not fully understood. Leeman et al.show through laboratory experiments that slow slip behaviour on faults is controlled by the frictional dynamics of the surrounding material.

    • J. R. Leeman
    • , D. M. Saffer
    •  & C. Marone

  • Article |

    Slow slip events have been observed in different subduction zones, but their relationship to megathrust earthquakes remains elusive. Here, the authors postulate that a transient event may have led to the 2011 Tohoku earthquake as the hypocentre falls within a zone of positive Coloumb stress change.

    • Yusuke Yokota
    •  & Kazuki Koketsu

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Natural examples of eclogite-derived migmatite were previously unknown. Here, the authors show evidence of high-pressure melting of eclogite in the Sulu orogen of China, and suggest the melts represent an exhumed example of flow channels in the lower crust, possibly a source of syn-exhumation magmas.

    • Lu Wang
    • , Timothy M. Kusky
    •  & Jianmin Fu

  • Article |

    Deep tectonic processes are considered to be responsible for stress loading of faults over a seismic cycle. Here, the authors use a mechanical model to demonstrate that erosion also significantly influences the stress loading of faults on this short time scale, potentially leading to fault failure and earthquakes.

    • Philippe Steer
    • , Martine Simoes
    •  & J. Bruce H. Shyu

  • Article |

    Large igneous province subduction is a rare process with many unknowns. Timm et al.present geochemical and geophysical data providing insights into the Hikurangi Plateau subduction and its impact on arc volcanism, identifying a missing piece of the Ontong Java–Manihiki–Hikurangi super plateau.

    • Christian Timm
    • , Bryan Davy
    •  & John A. Gamble

  • Article
    | Open Access

    During continental rifting, various stages and structures are observed, the least understood being hyper-extended continental crust at magma-poor margins. Here, the authors use finite-element thermomechanical models to investigate the mechanism causing observed margin asymmetry and crustal hyper-extension.

    • Sascha Brune
    • , Christian Heine
    •  & Stephan V. Sobolev

  • Article |

    Sedimentation along convergent plate margins, the destructive sites of tectonic plate collision, is poorly understood. Malatestaet al.use a cutting-edge three-dimensional subduction model to demonstrate that the trench-parallel motion of sediments has a much more important role than previously thought.

    • Cristina Malatesta
    • , Taras Gerya
    •  & Giovanni Capponi

  • Article |

    The evolution of continental rifting curvature can be studied using thermal convection models. Studying how this curvature controls the subsidence of offshore basins, Sacek and Ussami find that the mantle viscosity structure affects the subsidence rate and evolution of sedimentary basins along curved margins.

    • Victor Sacek
    •  & Naomi Ussami

  • Article |

    Active shortening in the Central Andes shifted from the western to the eastern margin between 10-7 Myr ago, but the mechanism of formation is still unclear. Here, using critical wedge theory and local-scale fault friction calculations, this shift is proposed to have been controlled by changes in erosion patterns.

    • Kevin Norton
    •  & Fritz Schlunegger

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